The Truth Is
by isiscrystal9912
Summary: Sakura is from a clan she doesn't even know she is, and they are coming to find her, no matter what. With Sasuke, she was forced to escape to the Sand, but what happens when they harm the people around her, and play games in her mind?
1. The beginning of everything

Chapter 1: The beginning of everything

The sandstorm was raging ferociously in the country of Wind, waiting to exterminate its next unfortunate victims. It's that time of the year again, Isis explained, where sandstorms rage and with extremely high chances, may bury any shinobi who lays a foot into the sandstorm. Isis explained it would be best to avoid any sort of disaster regardless short of time or no.

_Stupid blood-sucking sandstorms_, sighed Sasuke.

"Isis?" Sakura prodded her with her index finger. To think that out of all the 365 days they could choose from, Tsunade just HAD to pick this day for this escort. That's just really, really…..GENIUS.

"Yes?" Isis responded, still keeping her eyes on the situation outside the cave they took shelter in.

"How long more until we reach Sand?" Sakura asked. There was a short silence before Isis answered, "A quarter mile."

"No, I meant how long more in time." Sakura asked again. Isis was in silence. She tried to think of a better answer than "if this keeps going on, which it may keep going on, then we will never be able reach Sand forever, because they will somehow ambush us and kill us unless Sasuke's wounds recover properly". But they will, eventually, get out and reach Sand alive.

…_if lucky._

"Maybe another half a day."

That was a lame answer.

Sasuke leaned himself against the wall of the cave and heaved a deep sigh. Sakura looked back at him. His body bandaged all over. He is still injured from his battle with Naruto weeks ago and yet had to be assigned to this mission. Just to protect her. Just to get her to sand unharmed.

"_We are short-handed, Sakura. I don't have a choice." _Tsunade told her earlier.

"Sorry Sakura but…we will need to wait. We don't have a choice."

_Nobody HAD a choice._

* * *

Sakura lightly knocked on the door. No response. She knocked again. Still no movements heard. She knocked once again, this time, harder.

"Could he be asleep? At such times?" she thought. At last, the blonde still chose to ignore the knocking sounds by sleeping right through.

With her anger fuel rising to a burning point, Sakura, frustrated and out of patience, knocked down the whole door and stomp towards the blonde's room and punched the living hell out of his dreams. Naruto yelped in pain as he fell to the floor beside his bed. Sakura grabbed the half-awake jinchuuriki by his collar.

"How can you still be asleep at two in the afternoon NARUTO?" Sakura yelled onto his face. Naruto muttered something under his breathe, still groaning in pain. Sakura shoved him onto his bed, hoping the impact will get him to wake up, but the stubborn jinchuuriki took the opportunity to roll up into a ball and continue his sweet dreams.

Rolling up into a ball…all knows darn well it is a weak defense against a punch like Sakura's.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto pleaded. I just want to sleep, he thought. I don't want to faint in the middle of a mission again.

Sakura decided to punch him awake for the last time as Naruto covered his head with his hands as protection. The bandages and wounds under his sleeves were exposed. Sakura noticed it a split second before the punch. She glanced at it. Instead of beating him awake, Sakura held up his arm and took a closer look at it.

"Ouch ouch ouch Sakura-chan…"Naruto pleaded. To his surprise, Sakura asked him, "Is your wounds okay?" Naruto just gave her a blank look. She unwrapped the bandage gently and noticed the wound the wound healing by itself.

No doubt. That's the nine-tails doings, Sakura thought. No wonder Naruto always heals quicker than Sasuke.

"Sa-a..ku…ra?" Naruto watched her, nervously. "Is anything wrong with my wounds?"

Sakura looked at him and smiled. "No, it's healing fine." She said as she replaced the bandage with a new one. "Now, GET UP!" Naruto grumbled. He fell back and ducked under the covers. Sakura sighed. She felt like giving up on waking him up. She tried to pull him out of bed but his body just stubbornly lied there. Funny, when Naruto saved people from falling off a cliff, he would always mention they were heavy. Now look who's talking.

"His insomnia is catching up to him." Isis said, sitting by the window sill. "He will need to get his s-"

"ISIS! How many times must I tell you to not simply slip into people's house?!" Sakura knocked Isis's head repeatedly as Isis resist the impact, softly giggling, Naruto laughed as he watched them. That is so "Isis" of Isis.

"Ok Isis, why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be somewhere else?"

"Somewhere where?"

"Somewhere! How would I know? Somewhere with the feudal lords? Isn't there where you are supposed to be?" Sakura asked. Isis seemed like she was slacking off somewhere else instead of keeping track of where the feudal lords are and providing protection to their relatives. Isis deemed it was boring because there's nothing to do half of the time.

"I wish I could trade places with Kihira. She does more exciting things. How the darn heck would you like to put up with the long, endless pressing demands of the feudal lords' young relatives along the pleasant journey towards their destination while we are all fighting to our death outside where she's comfortably sitting inside without needing to be stained by blood! Seriously, there was never an escort mission that ended safely without demands of getting her freaking 'royal highness' cup of water just because she was thirsty or she was bored and demanded a game of 'I spy with my twinkly little eyes'! God damn crappy little kids… I swear I-"

Sakura hit Isis hard on the head, "ISIS! You shouldn't talk about the lords' relatives' like that. Don't be so disrespectful!" "But it's true! I'm not a kid anymore…"A stray tear escaped her eyes.

Sakura sighed, but she was right. That was never once Team 7 never had been put up with complaints of little kids on escort missions. They were like brats. And Naruto was always the one who taught those kids a lesson they could never forget.

"By the way, I came here to tell you that Tsunade-sama wanted to see you." Isis said to Sakura. Sakura looked at her and smiled to herself. Isis recovered from her small mental breakdown quick.

"What fo-"

"I'm gonna go and eat ramen now! Goodbye!" Sakura's words were cut halfway through her sentence as Isis happily skipped towards the exit but was blocked by Sakura. "Did she say what for?"

"Eh? She didn't mention about it. But I have a feeling it's about the mission few days ago." Isis replied.

She knew it. She knew it has something to do with the incident that occurred during their recent mission. Naruto, who was listening all along bit his lower lip. No no no nothing's gonna happen right?

"Why, is there something wrong?" Isis asked. She doesn't know what's going on. Nobody does. It's a thing between Team 7.

"No, nothing. I'll see her then." Sakura nervously excused herself. Isis watched her as she slowly exit Naruto's room.

Isis turned to Naruto, "What's up with her?" Naruto forced a smile. "Nah, nothing at all."

Isis looked at him sideways with suspicion. She knows they are hiding something.

"By the way, you might wanna do something with the door." Isis decided to shrug the matter off and changed the subject.

"Yea I will." Naruto replied with a smile. He was about to fall back to sleep when he remembered something. "Wait, you said something about having ramen, didn't you?"


	2. Revealed

Chapter 2: Revealed

A journey to Suna was never any pleasant. This journey was no different.

The sight of a wide piece of dull,sandy land, with the wind carrying sand into one eyes, literally blinding the heck moment out of anyone. If luck was on one's side, a raging sandstorm would await them. They were just the lucky ones.

'How lucky.' Sakura thought sarcastically to herself. She hated sandstorms, everyone did. The Kazekage was no exception, and he was a sand user. Sakura seldom step into the country of Sand, but she knew spending days walking through the bone dry desert, depending on someone who she herself is uncertain of the Sand's direction. Isis is not the most dependable person when it came to directions.

Reaching the destination doesn't make it better. Sand would rain down from the head of messy hair once the hood is taken off. Making a little desert wouldn't be difficult.

Bad things didn't stop there. After Tsunade divulged her past to her, nothing else could get any worse than this. She was never a person to be so gloomy. Her mind had totally gone blank. There were no windows opened for her even after a door had closed.

* * *

Sakura left Naruto's apartment and rushed to her shishou's office, worried and anxious about what could happen. 'I think it's something regarding the recent mission. 'Isis words floated through her mind. She knew it was the mission, but she didn't know Tsunade would take it so seriously. It wasn't normal for her to.

Upon reaching the hallway outside the office, Sakura sworn she sensed the smell of sake radiating from her shishou's office. Ever since she took on the role of the Hokage, she seldom drinks. Sakura knew darn well under which circumstances Tsunade would even touch sake. She may be pissed off, or depressed, or having to deal with a serious matter.

If she was pissed off the whole kage tower would have collapsed.

If she's depressed she wouldn't even be in the office. That came down to a conclusion...

"You asked for me shishou?" Sakura entered the office after knocking.

Tsunade finished the last gulp of sake before slamming the bottle onto the table, making Shizune jump. Sakura just blinked as she watched her sensei wipe the end of her mouth with the back of her palm.

"Sit down, Sakura."

Sakura sat down and eyed her sensei, trying to look for some hint on what she was going to say. The Hokage still hadn't said anything, and just remained silent. Buckets of thoughts flooded Sakura's mind. What does she want? Is it urgent? Is it important?

"You are aware that you're not raised by your biological parents, aren't you?"

"Yes I am."

"Have you ever met your biological ones before?"

Sakura arched an eyebrow at this. "Shishou, is there something you want to tell me?" She felt like Tsunade was hiding something, more specifically talking in roundabouts to avoid the point directly. It was odd for the Hokage to do so.

Tsunade looked into the eyes of her student. Anticipation filled her green pair of eyes. She let out a sigh and sink back into her chair. Truth may hurt a lot, but what's true gotta hurt.

"Straight to the point, your biological family is hunting for you. So I suggest that you leave immediately."

Sakura blinked. Confusion and other mixed feelings flooded her. She wasn't sure if she understood what her shishou was saying. Maybe she is drunk. But a bottle of sake isn't anywhere near to get the legendary sannin drunk.

"Come again?"

"I've sent ANBU squads to investigate the matter behind the mission you had and also the attackers who unexpectedly showed up that time and wounded Naruto..."

"Then?" Sakura couldn't hold back her eagerness. Thinking that her so called biological parents is involved in the mission she had, could it be...?

"What? Shishou? What is it?" Sakura asked again, this time louder. Tsunade couldn't put in words to express. She had to pick the right words so that Sakura doesn't lose it. After scanning through a list of words to use in her mind, she finally spoke.

"You have a clan. You have something they want. They are hunting for you. They are trying to abduct you. Therefore I have arranged with the Kazekage that you will stay in Sand temporarily until the..."

"What?" Sakura stood up. "You are telling me to runaway to Sand just because I'm wanted?" She couldn't believe it. Since when was she that important to be arranged to run away? What does that mean? Her clan is coming to the leaf? Are they coming to destroy it like how the akatsuki did with Naruto? What does her clan want from her?

"You are aware what would happen if you keep staying in the Leaf do you?" Tsunade tried to make herself clear. The words she chose to use to explain to Sakura was no doubt wrong choices. She can't possibly choose the right words properly in her dizzy state,but at least she knew what she was talking about. Lately she have been receiving reports on suspicious shinobis roaming around outside near the Leaf and is said to own a unique kekkei genkai. Chunnins were killed when engaged in a battle with these skilled shinobis. Tsunade felt a chill shivered up her spine when the image of the dead chunins reappeared in her mind. The sight was definitely not pleasant. Tsunade wouldn't even go to the thought of how they were murdered. The council had been pressuring Tsunade to deal with that matter. Sake comes into the picture when stress is present.

Sakura sat back down. She took a deep breath and calmed down a little. She has a feeling she knew where this was going. She has a feeling she knows what's going to happen. "Shishou, isn't that like pushing a problem to the Sand?" Sakura's mind then froze. Did she just call herself a problem? She's a problem? She felt like she just became a burden to both the Leaf and Sand.

"I want to stay and fight." Sakura firmly said.

"As the Hokage, Sakura," Tsunade explained. She let out an exasperated sigh. "I have to try to avoid as much trouble as I can for Konoha."

"By getting rid of me?" Sakura accidently spat. She covered her mouth in realisation of what she had said. The vein in the middle of Tsunade's forehead popped.

She slammed the table hard that it cracked. Shizune jumped again. Tonton shivered in fear upon sighting the action.

"Listen, Sakura." Tsunade sounded dead serious. "You are going to Suna because I'm protecting you, as well as protecting Konoha. We are short of people as you can see, many are still healing from the recent war. Suna has already recovered and are back to their normal daily life and have formidable shinobis and a kage who can handle any situation. Do you hear me?"

"But-"

"No buts. It's decided." Tsunade curtly cut. Dear Tsunade don't like buts. Sakura was afraid she couldn't talk Tsunade out of it. Sakura looked down on her lap. She felt like she couldn't do anything other than cry and shout for help. Tsunade observed Sakura. She knew she felt bad and helpless.

"I'm sorry Sakura, but I don't have a choice. I have to carry out my duty as the Hokage." Tsunade said. "I had sent people out to investigate on the attackers. I will send you information as soon as I get any. And you won't be going to Sand alone."

Sakura looked up. "Someone is escorting me?" She felt like she didn't deserve any of this. All this protection.

"Not just someone." Tsunade corrected. Sakura tilt her head sideways, gesturing for Tsunade to continue.

"Sakura!"

Sakura jolted back into reality by the sounds of metal clashing and her name being screamed over and over again.

"SAKURA! MOVE!" Isis screamed at her as she pulled out her poisoned kunai after realizing the commotion that was going on. Suddenly she felt numb. Her body was squeezed tightly, around the neck and down to her thighs. She couldn't breathe. She grabbed onto the object that was killing her. She recognise its smoothness. Its texture. A snake.

Sasuke was dealing with trouble himself when he spotted Sakura. raced. He had to do something. He just had to. Even if it meant facing her after that.

Sasuke summoned a Chidori and struck his opponent when his grip loosened. Pulling out his kusanagi, he slashed the snake, avoid wounding Sakura. The snake released its grip and vanished into thin air. Sakura fell on her knees and placed her palm on her chest, taking long deep breaths. Her tongue froze when she looked up to thank her saviour.

Sasuke glanced at her and turned away, not wanting to face her or accept her thanks. He looked around to cover up the awkward atmosphere. His sight landed on Isis' face as she glared at him. "I said! I said I was going to deal with them. You said okay! Then what? You interfered! You idiot!"

"I didn't say okay." Sasuke said.

" 'hn..', 'okay' , what's the difference?" Isis simply tried to argue. She tried to sound as serious as possible, but a part of her was snickering at her own nonsense. Sasuke ignored her and cased back his kusanagi. He turned on his heel and walked. "Let's go. There's still a short distance left."

Sakura got up on her feet and followed after Sasuke, looking at his back. Is he disappointed? Is he really that affected? She never thought he could be.


	3. Awkward

Chapter 3: Awkward

"We're here! Finally! It took us 2 days! FINALLY I CAN GET OUT OF THAT FRICKIN' SAND HELL!" Isis exclaimed in a very much exaggerated manner.

"Hn. You're the female version of the dobe, aren't ya?" Sasuke stated in a very much annoyed tone.

"Well, you aren't any better, Mr. STICK-UP-THE-ASS!" Isis shot back. There was a twitch of an eyebrow on Sasuke 's face.

"Look, you might be hot and stuff, even I have to admit that..." Isis said, watching a smirk crept onto Sasuke's face , replacing the twitching eyebrow, "...but you really need to stop the goddamn emo facade! It's getting so damn BORING!"

"That's it." thought Sasuke as a vein popped on his head.

"Well, I don't see you cutting that Miss-Little-Good-Girl act. Don't think I don't know that you've backstabbed people." Sasuke said back smugly.

Isis was caught in disbelief when she heard that comment. "Uchiha Sasuke! Don't take me as those kind of lowly people! I hate those assholes who talk behind people's backs! They're the lowest of the low!"

"Well, then why do you only talk about them when they're not around?" Sasuke, this time more serious, spat back at her.

"I don't! I only say they're assholes! That's it! Like you! Do I ever talk about your things behind your back? No, I don't, I only say you're an emotionless-void-faceless-asshole. That's it! I swear! You can ask…"

Sakura just sighed at their bickering and shoved their voices into the background. She went into her own world, thinking what would they do here until all this madness has died down. She was somehow sure that things weren't going to go as planned for them but she just shrugged it off as if it was just the sand getting to her head.

Oh... but how wrong she was to just ignore it...

"Ne~ Sakura-chan~ Sakura-chan~ I'm getting tired talking to emo over there. Can we just get on with it and find Gaara now? I'm tired and sweaty from the 2 days we were in that damned sandstorm, also from that stupid ambush we encountered just, what? 10 minutes ago? Also, I wanna see my favourite Kazekage!" Isis exclaimed in a very relaxed tone.

A fist, namely Sakura's, was intact to Isis's head as soon as she finished complaining.

"Would you just stop complaining and act like a teenage girl of your age already? And we're supposed to meet our escorts by now. There!" Sakura said as she pointed the two shinobis walking towards their way.

"Hey guys! Always nice to see some Leaf-nins in the Sand! Was your journey a pleasant one?" Temari asked in a surprisingly rather cheerful manner.

Isis was the first to say something.

"Yes, yes it's alright, lady. I'm very happy to hike ten miles and a quarter through raging sandstorms on the hottest days of the year and the get ambushed unprepared just to come here empty-handed just because your boyfriend forgot to sign the freaking agreement and lost it! No problem!" Isis then flipped her midnight black hair at Temari, eyes squinted and added, "Let's see you try it."

A vein popped on Temari's forehead and she then said, " Oh yeah? Fine, let's see you deal with hormonally insane teenage girls 24 hours a day because they're after my goddamn idiot of a brother. Why did he have to be born with such good looks, minus the eye-liner part."

Sasuke choked.

"OK, it's on sista!" Isis said with a slang.

"Bring it." Temari said as she glared at Isis earning a glare back from her.

"Ehe... " Sakura struggled a laugh, but she wanted to get over with this soon so she could take a bath and relax and forget about the world. So she interrupted saying, "Um... I know you guys are having fun and all... but can we please see Gaa- I mean, Kazekage-sama now? We have to explain what happened on our way here."

"Oh yes, I'm so sorry I forgot about you Sasuke, Sakura." Temari looked up seeing as to where the sun's position was to estimate the time.

"Wow, look at the time. Well, it's about time we be there by now. Anyway, c'mon, let's go." She said with a smile directed to Sakura and Sasuke.

"Yes! Lets!" Isis, more than eager to get over with it and descended to the Kazekage's tower.

* * *

"Oh Gaara dearest!Where are you?" Isis shouted as she barged into his office, earning a few looks from the people around them.

"Gaara! Gaara! Where are-" Isis's voice was muffled by Sakura's hand.

"Isis... would you mind being a little less louder than you normally are? That would be a great favour for all of us here. Thank you." Sakura said as she slowly took away her hand from Isis's mouth.

"Awwwww... Why? Me and Gaara are so close!" A cheeky grin appeared on her expression.

"Well, I wouldn't mind it that much anyways... besides, Gaara doesn't mind." Sasuke stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Guys." A quite pissed off Gaara appeared at the door. Temari turned to look at Sasuke and said, "What did you say about Gaara not minding?"

"Gaara! C'mere you little baka!" Isis said as she nudged his head.

"Hn, girl version of the dobe." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Ya, ya! Say what you want emo-derp-shit. You ain't gettin' nothin' from me." Isis said as she messed up Gaara's hair.

"Uhum! Well anyways..." Gaara said as he slowly escaped from Isis's grasp. "Temari, show them to their inn, and report to me tomorrow. I have things to do, so see me tomorrow morning."

Temari nodded and escorted them out of the office. Sasuke and Sakura bowed slightly whereas Isis waved "Bye bye Gaara!" earning Sakura's hand pushing her head down to make it as if she was bowing.

"OK, let's go to your inn." Temari said with a small smile.

* * *

Isis was first to run to the counter. "Anoo~ baa-chan, three rooms please. Overnight.".

"I'm sorry dearie, but we only have two rooms left. But on the bright side, each room can fit 2 people!" The nice old lady told them.

"Oh, so it won't be a problem then. We'll take it." Sakura nodded.

"Well... sorry to break it to you Sakura, but I am the last person you'd want to sleep with. So, I guess you have to sleep with Sasuke." Isis said without a hint of embarrassment.

"WHAT?!" Sakura said as her cheeks turned a shade of bright pink that could almost match up to her pink hair. She pulled Isis further away."Don't be crazy Isis. How can a grown man and woman sleep with each other? Even though we did it as kids but we were just still kids that time." she stated.

"Wait let me explain this. Number one, I snore really, really loud. I mean like elephant-ish loud. You won't be able to sleep a wink. Two, I sleep talk. A friend told me that when I was over at her house for a sleep over. She recorded everything and well... let's say I didn't say the best of things."

"Three, I tend to move around, a lot when I sleep. I used to kick my sister off our bed whenever we slept together. Four, I sleep walk. Five, I sleep really late and usually sleep at 4 in the morning. Before three, I will either be walking around or having trouble falling asleep, so when I try to I have to do this sort of ritual things to make me sleep. And well... the list just seems to go on..." Isis said sheepishly with a hint of embarrassment of the fact that she does all these things when she sleeps.

"So yea... and now I will..." Isis snatched the keys on the front desk and ran away to the destined room.

"Hey!" Sakura took the other set of keys from the front desk and ran off, tailing her was a frustrated Sasuke.

Although Sakura and Sasuke were right behind her but they just couldn't seem to catch up to her. When they caught up they were already at her room door.

Just in time, Isis opened the door and went in.

"Have fun tonight you two!" she slammed the door in front of their faces.

"Damn!" Sakura said as she wiped the sweat that was slowly forming on her already big enough forehead.

They could hear her snicker on the other side of the door.

"So what are we gonna do now?" sked a panting Sasuke.

"I...I guess we have no choice..." Sakura said, trying best not to feel shy.

"Hn." Sasuke said as a small blush crept up his face.

"L-let's go..."Sakura stuttered as she unlocked the door to their was a nice cozy room. Spacious, a queen sized bed, a comfy looking couch that could fit three people, a TV and a small coffee table in front of the couch.

After a few minutes of checking out theroom, they unpacked.

"I'm going to take a bath first. You can go after me..." a blush formed on Sakura's face.

"OK." said the stoic Uchiha.

Sakura than grabbed her stuff and went into the bathroom.

As soon as she shut the door she thought to herself, 'Isis, you are gonna pay for this!' She then undressed and stepped into the shower area, and let the cooling sensation wash away the madness.

Sasuke thought about the same thing.

He plopped onto the bed, 'What mess have I got myself into? And what did I do to deserve this?' OK, maybe he did do a lot of things to deserved this, but he's done his time, what else did he have to do?

10 minutes later, Sakura came out of the bathroom in a pink tank top and a pair of latex tight fitting pants.

"Sasuke-kun, your turn to use the bathroom..." Sakura said timidly.

"...hn."He stood up, took his things and went in the bathroom.

When he got in he thought to himself, 'What the hell was I doing?! Was I ogling at Sakura's figure?!' He blushed a deep red as he remembered the clothes she was wearing, 'And what the hell was she wearing?! That's too much skin exposure! Ughhh! I'm gonna wash these thoughts off...' At the same time, mentally cursing the girl next door.

* * *

"Whew! Today was another successful day!" Isis said as she grinned to herself. "Now I just have to take a nice long bath to wash all the dirt off." She said to herself as she stepped into the bathroom and filled the bathtub with nice warm water.

She dipped her hand in. "Ahhhh... just nice..." she then took off all her clothes and slowly made way to the bathtub.

She stopped suddenly in front of the mirror. Turning to her left, the tattoo of the Leaf symbol can be seen on her upper arm. She moved her right hand and touched the tattoo. She smiled softly yet sadly at the permanent mark on her left arm.

"This brings back a lot of memories..." She said softly just a little above a whisper.

Many might not know, but only a few have the mark and those who did were those who swore their loyalty to the village forever, promising to complete every task or mission even if it meant for them to die.

Pledging their loyalty to something forever... like a dog chained to a steel wall... never thinking of breaking away to be free...


	4. Not a damsel in distress anymore

Chapter 4: Not a damsel in distress anymore

Gaara rubbed his temples as he roughly scanned through the letter again. He bit his lower lip nervously, thinking of his next step. He had sent a team over to the Leaf to assist, and hopefully the team would make it back alive. He was worried about how he was going to inform the Leaf trio about the news, especially Sakura.

Gaara stared intensely at the sentence that got him into deep thoughts. The hokage had asked to have the incident not known by Sakura to "avoid trouble".

But then again, it was huge news. Keeping it from Sakura would mean dangering her life as well, for she won't know the harm they can do to her. How could he protect the trio and harm them at the same time?

"Now that's interesting. "

A figure blocked his source of light from raining through the window. Her voice pulled Gaara out from his train of thoughts. He didn't turned around, but her presence locked his nerves, so he knew who it was.

"Whatcha gonna do about it?" Kihira leaped from the window sill and landed gently beside him.

"How about you tell me?" Gaara challenged her, still not looking up from the letter.

"I suggest you tell her. " She said, drumming her fingers on his mahogany desk.

"But she will cause a mayhem and try to go back to the Leaf. Not telling her will kill her, for she won't know how dangerous it can get if she's not expecting any harm." Gaara said as a matter of fact.

Kihira glanced at the letter before sitting down on the floor cross legged. "It was just a suggestion."

"What makes you suggest that?" Gaara asked.

"Gaara, " Kihira stretched herself. "She's going to know about it sooner or later. It's better not to risk her life like that. What comes first, a life or a request?

Gaara placed the letter on the table and anchor it with a pebble. "All right, but what happens if she tries to escape?"

Kihira stood up. "That's what Kuchi is for."

* * *

"It's true! I'm not lying! I really, really, cause a havoc if you sleep in the same room as me! Wanna try? I bet you won't even want to experience it. " Isis defended herself and convince the duo that she's not planning anything.

"I would." Sasuke nonchalantly said, stirring his drink with a straw. He was still mad at Isis for "setting them up". "Provided that you wear proper clothing when you sleep. "

Sakura's eye twitched at his words, wondering if he was talking about her and her tank top. She would punch him, but it would just make things worse between them.

"Tank top is proper clothing." Sakura said, looking sideways at Sasuke. Isis and Sasuke stared at her in disbelief. Silence fell upon them.

"YOU WORE A TANK TOP IN FRONT OF HIM? " Isis exclaimed for the whole village to hear. "HOLY SHI- NEWS OF THE DAY!"

Sakura grabbed Isis but failed, letting Isis run around like fury, yelling as if she just came out from a mental problem hospital in a suburban area.

"Where are you going? "She shouted from a distance at the excited girl, panicking.

"To the radio tower!" Isis shouted back.

"Oh no you don't! "Both Sasuke and Sakura plunged forward and tailed after their troublesome friend. Isis ran like the wind, as a result bumping into Temari and knocking her.

"Look where ya going, will ya lady?" Isis scolded without looking at her hit victim, earning a slap on the head by Temari's obese fan.

"YOU look where YOU RUN. " Temari scolded back. Sakura and Sasuke stopped dead in their tracks, acting as if they're not involved while being consumed by guilt.

"Gaara wants to see you now." Temari bluntly said while retracting back her fan and led them to the tower without saying a word. They followed and walked across the busy road and to the tower. Isis ran next to Temari. "You won't believe what happened yesterday. Sakura-"

"Not interested. " Temari cut.

Sasuke glanced at Sakura sideways. Concidently, she was also peeking at him from the corner of the eye. Both of them looked away in an instant and pretended it never happened.

What is the meaning of that? Sakura thought, a question left unanswered.

* * *

"Gaara."

Gaara looked up from his paperwork to see the group he had been waiting for, then glanced at the letter pressed under the pebble before sweeping away his paperwork.

"Gaarie!" Isis plunged forward to cuddle her dear friend but was held back by Temari. Sasuke sighed and mentally insulted her a female dobe.

"Anyways, " Gaara looked at Isis disturbingly before introducing a child standing beside him. " This is Kuchi. She's my right hand man. "

They looked at the feeble looking child who greeted them with a grin. Silence filled the room before it got bombarded by Isis' laughter.

"A kid? Come on, Gaara, you can do better than that." Isis mocked the ten year old child, getting a smack in the head by both Temari and Sakura simultaneously.

"She's a kekkei genkai user. " He told Isis. "Mineral style."

Sakura looked at the girl with navy green eyes and black ponytail. Kuchi bowed slightly towards the group.

"Aww you little puny thing. Acting as a good girl huh? Sad case, fella." Isis mocked again. Kuchi eyed her and snarled, "Shut your yap."

"Why don't you go soak your head. " Isis leaned forward and eyed her back. Temari smacked both of them and shoved them to the ground.

Gaara looked at them and was about to utter something but was interrupted by a knock on the door. A man came in with a stack of papers and made his way to Gaara.

"...and this is Kazero. My assistant." Gaara introduced again, though annoyed at getting interrupted by a string of events. Kazero smiled at the group. Kuchi got up from the floor and ran to Kazero, mumbling something while eyeing Isis.

"Kazekage-sama, here, sign this, read this, and pretend to read this. " Kazero placed three documents on the table.

"Thanks..." He said, with a smirk at his statement. "Anyways, straight to the point, Konoha sent a letter here," he hesitated a bit, knowing he will regret what he'll say next, before continuing, "The leaf has been attacked."

"By? " Sasuke asked.

Gaara glanced at Sakura. "Hanyou clan."

Sakura's eyes widened. "I'm a Hanyou?" and suddenly everything came into her mind. The hokage told her to leave was to protect her, meaning she knew it was all going to happen. They are after her, desperately.

"Why do they want me for? " Sakura asked.

"Maybe you have something they want." Temari said. "Like a skill or your chakra type?" But Sakura shook her head.

Gaara responded, "They said they are after your blood."

"Blood?" Isis spoke. "They are all from the same clan right? Why do they want the same blood?"

Sakura then realized what her presence have done to the Leaf, she stepped forward and face Gaara. "I have to go back."

Gaara expected that. "You can't go back. My job is to make sure you are safe."

"To keep me safe? And harm the Leaf? THAT is your plan?" Sakura questioned him. "I rather surrender!"

"If you surrender to them, it will make things worse. " Temari explained.

"No, this is not how it's supposed to work!" She argued. "I have to go and help! At least let me help!"

She ran to the door to escape, but was blocked by a wall of sand. The Sand locked her wrists tight as she struggles. "Isis, help me!"

"You are not going anywhere. "

Gaara ordered. Sakura glared. can't help thinking she's safe and everyone is harmed because of her. That was something she learned from Naruto, never let people fight a war that's yours. She doesn't want to be weak anymore, she doesn't want to be rescued and protected anymore. She wants to step out and fight.

With her might, she broke free from the sand's grasp. Gaara swiftly blocked the exit again. Sakura punched the Sand but it flew towards her, blinding her at the moment.

"Kuchi, now!" Gaara ordered.

Kuchi hurled a powdered rock towards her and hit the back of her head, knocking her out.

* * *

The moonlight shines through the window, warming her abdomen. Her flustered opened, revealing her green eyes. Her turned to her right and sighted a darn figure sitting beside her. She felt the texture of the mattress. She's on the bed. In the inn.

Sasuke turned to look at her, then handed her a cup of water. Sakura took a sip from it. In an instant, everything that happened just now flooded her mind. She immediately got up but was pushed back down by the pain on the back of her head.

"Easy. Don't think of doing anything." Sasuke said to her. She shot a glare at her teammate, then realised she is looking at the man she once loved.

Turning away from the thought, she looked out of the window as Sasuke climb onto the bed. Clenching her fists, she stayed awake throughout the night in rage.

* * *

"Question. " Kuchi broke the silence between her and Isis. "Is Sakura and Sasuke, by any chance, a couple?"

"That is not supposed to be your concern right now, isn't it?" Isis said, worrying about the situation in Leaf.

"I just wanted to know." Kuchi innocently said.

"OK, " Isis gave in. "No, they are not. Their thing is actually a bit sore."

"Thing? Like their bond? Why?"

Isis said nothing. Her mind is filled with flashing pictures of team 7 during the fourth shinobi world war. Kuchi looked at Isis and blinked. "Isis?"

"During that time, Sakura was in a dilemma to heal either Naruto or Sasuke first. " Isis blurted out.

"When?"

"During the war." Isis responded to the tyrant. She felt like the incident was a part of her and she needed to let it out from her chest.

"Then..." Kuchi uttered softly. "Who did she heal first?"

Isis looked at the night sky and smiled to herself. "Naruto."

* * *

Sasuke stretched himself and yawn. He looked to his left. The other bed has been made and no one was lying on it. He slipped out of bed at made his way to the bathroom, and knocked on the door.

"Sakura, are you in there? "

Sakura flinched and quickly dress herself. "I'm coming out!"

She stepped out of the bathroom and found herself facing the last of the Uchiha clan. Both of them stood like what seems like forever before Sasuke broke the awkward moment.

"I'm going in." He said, swiftly grabbing his clothes and went into the bathroom. Sakura took a deep breath and stuffed her towel into her bag. She planned on having breakfast outside now before Sasuke comes out. Not wasting any time, she opened the room door, meeting with a girl shorter than her.

"Hi." Kuchi grinned cheekily at her. "Sorry about yesterday. It was an order."

Not expecting it, Sakura just stared at her, speechless, before regaining her conscious. "Oh, um, no problem. I'm over it."

"Over Leaf being attacked thing too?" Kuchi asked, carefully not triggering her fuel.

Sakura sighed. "Maybe, but I won't try to escape this time, especially you being here." Sakura said, indirectly complimenting her skills as they walked into the lobby.

"Then are you over your history with Sasuke-kun too? " Kuchi playfully asked.

"What?" Sakura blushed. "What do you mean?"

"You know, " Kuchi grinned even wider as they exited the inn. "You had to choose between Naruto and Sasuke on who to heal first when both of them are dying, and your choice resulted a sore in your friendship between you and...him..."

Suddenly something in her mind clicked. Is that why they've been so awkward? Not only her, but Sasuke felt it as well? Does that mean...by some chance, he may have liked her too?

"Who told you this?" Sakura asked, suspecting it was Isis, "Who-"

Suddenly a scream was heard. Sakura and Kuchi simultaneously turned to the direction of the sound. Hundreds of ninjas flew past, cutting through the air, wounding the Sand shinobis. Realising who they are, Kuchi pushed Sakura back into the inn. "Get in!"

"Who are they? " Sakura asked, even though she could tell who they were.

"Hanyou!" Kuchi shouted through the noise. A pillar in the inn collapsed as a few Hanyou crashed through the wall of the inn, as if knowing she was there. Sakura stood up and attacked them but was blocked by Isis who came right on time.

"Don't even think of showing yourself. " Isis said, and leaped towards them to distract them, giving Sakura a chance to run.

But she didn't run. Instead she threw herself at them and hit one of the Hanyou, causing him to fall to the ground. Just when she was going to punch another, her leg was grabbed and she slipped. Her gaze caught a pair of bloody red eyes.

"Found you." He grinned at her, but his achievement was short lived. Blood splattered on Sakura's shirt and she was dropped to the floor, moments before getting picked up again and carried to another spot. Looking up, she eyed Sasuke who placed her down.

"Stay here." Sasuke gestured to her.

"No, I'm not playing damsel in distress again." She said as she stood up. "This is my fight."

"If you go out there, you'll die. " Sasuke reasoned with her impatiently. "And if they get you, it will be a trouble to the five shinobi nations. Don't you see the risk you are putting here?"

"Don't you ever have faith in me? Even after the war that we fought together, you still don't think I can save myself? Am I really that weak?" Sakura reasoned, trying to voice out.

"It's not that, it's just-" Sasuke tries to argue with her but was cut when a shadow darkened the spot where they stood. Pointing to the slash mark on his abdomen, Torito swiftly pulled out his katara. "I'll return the favor, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke dodged his slash and summoned a Raikiri. Torito jumped upwards to Sasuke's blind spot and slashed him before Sasuke could react, leaving him falling to the ground. As Torito approached Sasuke, Sakura kicked him back, sending him crashing through the wall.

Just when Sakura thought she had him, Torito jumped back up. In a instant, Sakura found herself vulnerable to the katara placed near her throat. "That didn't hurt at all, Hanyou Sakura." Torito blewed into her ear.

Upon seeing the scene, Isis kicked her way through the crowd of Hanyous and swept his legs, causing him to fall. She grabbed her blade and held Torito back. "Sakura, take Sasuke and go!"

"I'm not running anymore! I told you!" Sakura shouted while avoiding cement that are crumbling onto her.

"If you don't run now, there won't be a next time!" Isis tries to convince her. Torito waited for her to loosen her grip before pounding on the opportunity to slash her. Isis lost her grip on Torito and tumbled to the ground, yelling in pain. Sakura was about to plunged forward and reach Isis but a hand pulled her away from all the havoc and mess.

"Kuchi, let go of me!" Sakura struggled to set her wrists free as she pulled Sakura into a sandy area. Tailing them is Sasuke. "I need to save Isis!"

"Save yourself first! She'll be fine! She's strong!" Kuchi reassured her and dragged them faster and deeper into the sandy land upon hearing the Hanyous closing up on them.

"Why am I more important than everyone? YOU tell me WHY!" Sakura was fed up.

"You don't understand! They're going to kill you! They need your blood to destroy the five nations! That's all it is!" Kuchi blurted out all the content she saw from the letter Gaara received.

Sakura was startled for a moment at her words. "What?"

The noise made by the Hanyous got louder. Kuchi panicked. " Just don't tell anyone. Keep heading to this direction and you'll reach the Mist."

"But-"

"Just go! I'll distract them!" Kuchi said as she ran back and away from them, towards the group of Hanyous.

"Kuchi!" Sakura shouted at her but was pulled away by Sasuke, running away from the noises, away from danger.

As they run across the desert, tears caused by the distrust of her friends and the sand disturbing her cornea escaped her eyes.

* * *

Their vision was blurred by the Mist surrounding them. She could hardly think properly, let alone walk or talk. She couldn't tell where they were, where they were supposed to go and what they were supposed to do. As a matter of fact, she didn't even care anymore.

"Sasuke, where are we?" her throat was dry, so the sound she emitted just croaked. Not hearing a respond, she turned around and saw Sasuke lying motionless on the floor, bleeding non-stop.

She collapsed to the floor as if her last hope was gone. Lying beside Sasuke, her vision blurred and her last thought was hoping that she won't come back alive again.


	5. Welcome to the Hidden Mist

Chapter 5: Welcome to the Hidden Mist

The smell of fresh mattress woke her up. A white ceiling was the first thing she saw. She looked around her. The atmosphere, the view, the people around. She was at the hospital.

She slowly sat up on her bed as a nurse entered the room. Sakura interrupted the nurse who was adjusting the temperature. "Um, may I know how I got here?"

The nurse turned around surprised to see her awake. "Some of our mist ninja found you and another of your friend at our entrance. Yagura-sama recognized you and told us to give you two medical treatment."

"Yagura-sama"? Sakura thought to herself. Who is that?

Just at that moment, a short man with grey hair entered the room. He had a stitched scar running from below his left eye down to the bottom of his face. He had a childlike face, which Sakura thought he was a kid at first, and purple, pupiless eyes.

The nurse slightly bowed towards him and excused herself from the ward. Sakura was about to ask who he was when he gently spoke up first. "I'm Yagura, you must be Haruno Sakura, I assume?"

Awed at his politeness, she froze a bit before responding. "Uh, yes, how did you know my name?"

"I know one of your close friend. His name is Naruto." Yagura explained. "When I saw you and Sasuke outside the entrance of the Mist, I immediately recognized you. Partially because of Sasuke too maybe?"

Sakura smiled and rubbed her forehead. "So sorry to trouble you. What happened was-"

"-the Sand was invaded and you were their target, so you escaped and ended up here." Yagura finished her sentence. Sakura just stared at him dumbfounded, wondering how he knew.

"Oh, sorry for interrupting you." Yagura smiled apologetically. Sakura was still dumbfounded, but in a way where she couldn't handle nice and overly polite people as she wasn't used to hanging around people like him. Moreover, she is in the place where it was once called The Bloody Mist. She didn't expect people here to be any nice.

Yagura then continued, "The fifth Mizukage received a message from the Sand moments ago regarding the incident."

"I see. Anyways, thanks for saving me. " Sakura naturally became more polite around polite people. "Yagura, may I ask...about Sasuke...?"

"Oh that, he is in the recovery room. He is in stable condition, but his wounds are constantly bringing him pain."

"I gotta help him." Sakura got out of her bed. Yagura gestured her to lie back down. "Maybe you should rest before you see him."

"I'm fine now, really. Besides, I'm a medical ninja." Sakura patiently reassured him, though a little worried about Sasuke.

"It won't help. Our medic tried everything but the healing only made the wound much worse."

"I'm trained under one of the legendary Sannins." Sakura used her final weapon, at the same time hoping Yagura wouldn't think she was bragging. "I'm sure I can do something. Please. He's my friend."

Yagura hesitated a while before giving in. "Alright." He led her to the recovery room where Sasuke was. Sakura glanced at his bandaged body before getting to work. She unwrapped the bandages while Yagura explained her actions to the medics and nurses in the room. The wound was one she had never seen before. It had an unusual scar colour, black and green. Making an assumption of a wound that looks like it, she emitted a greenish-light through her palms and waited for the effect. To her surprise, the wound didn't get better, but got worse. The scared started to ooze out a greenish liquid as Sasuke moaned in pain. Withdrawing her hand, she panicked that she made a mistake, especially on Sasuke.

"What is that?" a nurse who was watching asked.

"I don't know." Sakura said. Turning to Yagura, she asked, "Any idea what it may be?"

Yagura shook his head. "The medic team took a sample of that green liquid to test out, but they can't figure out what it is."

"Yagura-sama." a medic interrupted. "Maybe you should take it to Hanare. She may know, and also know how to heal him."

"Hanare?" Yagura asked. "I don't think so..."

"We won't know until we try." Sakura encouraged him. Yagura inhaled and exhaled deeply before nodding. "Alright. We'll take him to her as well as the sample. Also, I would like to ask for this woman to be discharged from the hospital." He said, turning to the nurse behind him.

Without opposing, she nodded and exited the room. Sakura smiled at Yagura. "Thank you." She was glad finally someone wasn't so protective of her.

"No problem." he said, while placing Sasuke's arm around his neck, supporting him. "Now let's go find Hanare."

* * *

A boy about the age of eight answered the door. He has strips of slightly dark brown hair all over his head and blue-coloured pupil. Standing about a feet shorter than Sakura, he greeted the trio. "Ooh, hi Dad. What's up?"

"No time now, Kosuke." Yagura said, squeezing his way through without hitting Sasuke against the door frame. Sakura followed closely behind and glance at Kosuke before entering.

"Who's that? Another patient for Hanare?" Kosuke followed behind as Yagura put Sasuke down on the couch.

"Yes, call your sister down and qui-"l

"HANARE! YOU GOT A CUSTOMER!" Kosuke yelled from across the living room. Yagura pinched and pulled his ear upwards. "Don't do it that lazy way!"

Just then, a younger looking girl appeared in the living room. She looks like a seven or six year old, and does not look like Kosuke or Yagura at all. She had dark purple hair down to her shoulder, a cute, innocent face and a wide friendly smile plastered on her face.

"I heard I got company...?" even her voice was innocent and childish. Sakura smiled to herself upon meeting with...a much younger and talented medic.

This is the medic? Sakura thought unbelievably to herself. It made her realize that there's always a mountain taller than her own.

"Here. His scar is abnormal and we can't figure out how to heal it." Yagura explained as Kosuke took out a box that contains surgical tools. Sakura had many questions floating about her mind, like who is she? How good is her medical skills? Who taught her? How did she get so skilled even though being young? She pondered as she helped unwrap Sasuke's bandages.

Watching Hanare picking out her tools, Sakura can't help but ask, "You're going to do this here? In the middle of the living room?"

"His scar looks bad, so we have no time to transfer him to a room." Hanare replied. She shined a torchlight at his scar and leaned down to look closely. Grabbing a knife, she sliced the scar deeper as Sasuke moaned in pain. Kosuke who was watching close by clutch onto Yagura's shirt with a tense expression. Picking a pair of tweezers, she dug it deep into the scar. Sakura's eyes widened in doubt. Does this girl even know what she's doing? That can kill him!

Carefully, Hanare turned the tweezers around as Sakura watched in disgust. With a very tense and serious expression on her face, she slowly pulled out the tweezers, in between the tips was a long, slimy, black worms like object. Kosuke stuck his tongue out in disgust. "What on earth is that?"

"A worm." Hanare plainly replied. As soon as she pulled out the whole worm, Sasuke stopped groaning and passed out. Sakura panicked for a moment before Yagura reassured her. "Relax, it's normal for him to pass out like that. It will be for a few hours."

"But is it normal for that...?" Kosuke pointed at the worm. It wasn't dead, instead it was wriggling around. It was slimy, black, and about half an inch thick. Quickly, Hanare dropped it into a glass jar prepared and covered it. Sakura watched the worm as it climbs up the jar and stuck to the side of it.

A moment of silence filled the room. With everyone looking at Sasuke for seconds, Hanare finally broke it. "We have for awhile before I can heal him. I'll wrap the bandage around him and find some Aloe Vera plant."

"I'll do it." Sakura volunteered. Hanare nodded and kept all the tools back into the box. Kosuke just waddled back into his room in disgust, trying to throw away the images of the worm through a nap. Yagura passed Sakura a roll of bandage and a pair of scissors. "We'll have to inform Mei-sama about your presence here as an outsider and explain everything later. And if you need anything just tell me. I'll be in the kitchen."

Sakura smiled and thanked him. Within seconds, she was the only one in the living room with Sasuke. While snipping out a length of bandage, the thought of Konoha and Suna being destroyed to bits binds her with guilt.

* * *

"I see. That...I can confirm, is true..." Mei uttered towards Yagura and Sakura after explaining everything from the top to bottom. Confused at her words, Sakura displayed a complex expression.

"I've received a letter from the Sand." Mei explained. Sakura then nodded, thankful for her summing it up. Mei continued, "The Kazekage stated here that the Hanyous will agree to stop attacking villages, provided that you surrender to them. What are you going to do about this?"

"Probably surrender." Sakura responded. If she doesn't surrender soon, they may invade and attack Mist like how the Leaf and Sand was. She didn't want to bring trouble to a foreign place, especially after the people here treating her so nicely.

"I mean, besides surrendering." Mei said. Sakura shook her head. She couldn't bear all the mess anymore.

"But there's got to be another way." Yagura said. "We should get more information, perhaps."

"Yes. I guess that may help build towards a plan." Mei brightly said. "And also...get someone to examine this...thing." She said while looking at the worm in the jar that is sitting in her desk. "And while you're at it, you should find a place to stay here, maybe at the Fourth's place."

"What?" She exclaimed. "The Hanyous may-"

"Relax, from here onwards I'll have the security in the Mist tighten. I can guarantee nothing is going to happen." Mei smiled reassuringly to her.

"Mizukage-sama, there's really no need to..." Sakura said, feeling bad about the major changes Mei was about to bring here because of her.

"Since this issue is affecting the entire Alliance, I don't mind." Mei smiled. "And Yondaime, if you don't mind, maybe both of them can stay with you temporarily."

"Sure." Yagura said as he led Sakura out of the office. Sakura's jaw dropped at his respond. Outside, Sakura decided to know more. "You are the fourth Mizukage? I'm sorry I didn't know that..."

"It's okay. You probably also don't know that I'm the container for the three-tailed beast." Yagura told her.

"You're a jinchuuriki too?" She was even more surprised.

"That's how I met Naruto." Yagura replied.

Sakura was about to ask further regarding the Bloody Mist era, the time Yagura was the Mizukage but decided to shut up. It may be a sensitive issue and it would be rude to ask. But despite unable to suppress her curiosity, she blurted out, "So if you're the fourth Mizukage, the Bloody Mist era-"

Yagura glanced at her sideways before answering, "Well, let's just say that my advantage became a disadvantage."

Not really getting what he meant, she still broke into a small smile, regretting a little that she asked.

"That aside," Yagura pushed away the topic. "Welcome to the Hidden Mist."

* * *

Hanare stood in front of Sasuke's room holding onto a roll of bandages. Judging from the amount of blood he had lost, he can't afford to lose She too much more. Hanare decided to change his bandages and also try her secret healing technique on him. It has been years since she had done so, and deeply inside, very excited to be able to do it again. Although being only about six years old, she is recognised to be one of those skilled medic ninja in the Mist, just least experienced. Suppressing her anxiety, she took a deep breath and emitted red, glowing light on her palms for preparations.

"Is that red chakra?"

Hanare quickly turned around and looked at the speaker. Sakura smiled at the little girl, gesturing her to relax. "That's unique."

"It's a kekkei genkai. From my clan." Hanare said smiling back at her.

"Your dad has that technique too?" Sakura asked.

"You mean Yondaime-sama?" Hanare asked. "He's my stepfather. I'm adopted, just like Kosuke nii-chan."

Surprised by her respond, Sakura wanted to know more. "What clan are you from? What happened to your family?"

Hanare hesitated before continuing "I'm from the Shobaru clan. Most of the people from my clan were killed during the Bloody Mist era. My family was killed during the Fourth shinobi world war." She remained calm. "I'm the last of my clan."

Speechless, "I'm so sorry for that." was the only thing she could utter. She expected Hanare to break down anytime to cry but she didn't. Instead, Hanare just gave an innocent, sad smile. "But I don't blame Yondaime Mizukage though, it wasn't his fault. He was just manipulated." She said as she took out a roll of bandage.

"Here, I'll do it. Go get some sleep." Sakura said as she reach for the bandage. Hanare smiled adorably at her again before disappearing into her room.

* * *

"...My head hurts... " Sasuke opened his eyes to a blinding light. "Ack! This does not help..." Mumbling to himself, Sasuke wondered, where the heck he was. It was obvious he was in a room, but...whose room was it? Where is this place? Who took him in? Where is Sakura? He thought of her not being seen frightened him. He jumped up onto his feet but a sharp pain restricted him from moving. He tries to turn his head to look around but the same thing occurred. He stared at the white ceiling helplessly. He could only move his neck in 50 degrees field.

"Tch! Damn it! What the..." he slowly moved his hand to his stomach and felt a rough cloth beneath his fingertips. Moving it slightly more to the right where it hurts, he felt liquid beneath his fingertips.

Moving his hand to his face, he saw the red of his blood.

In an instant, all the memories came back in flashes of pictures, the invasion, the long and grueling journey to Mist, and hearing someone called out to him...but then all those moments just stopped at one point.

He was stabbed, and passed out on the spot.

"Something's up... " he mumbled to himself.

"Sasuke? Are you awake?" a voice called out from outside the room. It was Sakura's. Her voice sounded weary and really tired. Anybody would after going through do much. Sasuke felt relieved. She's alright. Then a thought struck him. He was confused. Why did Sakura's well being concerned me? Is it...ah, and that's not possible. The mission is to protect her, so it was only right I was worried about her.

But then again, Sasuke wasn't sure if he was just lying and convincing himself. He sure hope not. He has so many questions but to all he had no answers for.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura called again after not getting a respond the first time.

"I'm awake, Sakura. " Sasuke said as a matter-of-fact.

"Thank God. Then I'm coming in." She said as she entered the room.

Hearing Sasuke was alright took off most of the weight on shoulders. There was still a lot more that she had to take care of and was still debating with herself about something very important.

Slowly walking towards him, Sasuke heard her heels clicked against the floor multiple times. It was annoying but a relief to know that she is walking, and not sitting on a wheelchair.

Sakura took a seat next to his bed. The Sakura now, in medic mode. Her seriousness was new to Sasuke, even though he did make daily visits to the hospital.

"You're bleeding more and faster than we thought. " Sakura stated, noticing the blood had stain the whole bandage. Looking at Sasuke's injured body, she feels as guilty as ever. She helped Sasuke to sit up slowly to make her job easier. Cautiously, she removed his bandage. An awkward atmosphere started to fill the room. Sakura kept pestering herself inside. She wanted to finish this as quickly as possible just to avoid any further awkward moments. She suddenly regretted volunteering to change Sasuke's bandage. She should have let Hanare do it. But then again, she was like an angel who didn't deserve doing all these dirty jobs.

"What are you going to do about this?" the previously mentioned teammate asked spontaneously, whirling her out of her train of thoughts.

Sakura sighed. She didn't want to think about it. She wish people could just stop asking her that question. Her presence has been a threat to the Leaf, then the Sand...and now the Mist?

What happens if the Mist is invaded and destroyed? What if more people start getting hurt or worse still, die? What if nice people like Yagura and Hanare get sacrificed in this turmoil? Why is this happening to me? Why do all the things I can do are only small and insignificant, when I'm the cause? Why am I being the damsel? Why am _I_ not stopping this chaos? Why...

"Sakura! Calm down!" Sasuke shook her shoulders. She jolted back into reality. She was so traumatised that she didn't realize that she was blurting out every thought in her mind. She trembled. Tears started to flow out of her eyes. Sasuke was shocked. Absent mindedly, he pulled her into his arms, a form of consoling her. Sakura just weeped onto his shoulders, mentally berating herself for crying. She just felt useless. She was so hopeless and helpless. Her tears stained Sasuke's sleeve, pushing her pain and guilt onto his shoulders, begging him to take it away from her.

Sobbing and struggling hard to fight back her tears, she tries to calm herself down. Sasuke was in that awkward position, not knowing whether to break away from the consoling hug or maintain that way.

After awhile, Sakura stopped and calmed. Still in his arms, she asked barely above a whisper, "Can you move already?"

"I'm fine. My body isn't stiff anymore." Sasuke assured her. She nodded. "I sure am useless, am I?"

"No. You can't be. You're a medic ninja."

"All the things I can do are only small and useless..." Sakura said in her weak voice. She heard no respond. She dug deeper into him. She felt comfortable there. She just don't want anything to do with this anymore.

Thinking back, strong ninjas like Naruto and Sasuke have contributed so much, especially in the recent Fourth Shinobi world war. Everyone could do something. They made achievements. Sure, she did too. She was a part of that victory, but she didn't need to be there to win. They could've won also without her. What is the reason? Why? She tries to look for the answer as her thoughts were trailing off into deep sleep.

I _need_ power.


End file.
